lizzy-patti bake day

This is my friend, Lizzy. Lizzy likes to bake. Lizzy likes to bake with Patti. Patti likes to bake with Lizzy. Lizzy and Patti are friends. The end.

Haha...besides from sounding like an elementary story book, Lizzy and I had a great time with our bake-day. :) This has been an annual thing that we've (recently) started to do, and what better way to meet up with a good friend than by bonding in the kitchen?!

So on the menu today was the Elvis Fluffernutter Cake, which I have been yearning to bake for quite some time now, and which I now dub the Coma Cake. Since it will undoubtedly put your body and soul in a sugar coma. NO JOKE. I'm serious, people. I have never been in a sugar coma before and always laughed to myself when people would describe this phenomenon. Believe me...I have experienced a wicked sugar coma with the Coma Cake and it is true. Believe.

So. What are the contents of a Coma Cake, you wonder? Well...only the best ingredients, obviously. Like, marshmallow creme. And bananas. And chocolate chips. And PEANUT BUTTER. And sprinkles. Yes, all the bare necessities of life come together in this one cake. And in the words of "Jungle Book", the bare necessities of life, they'll come to you. Oh yes, they'll come to you.

So let me describe this cake to you all. Cake layers consist of banana cake topped with chocolate chips, which are baked in and conveniently sink into the cake like one big delicious monstrosity. And then...it's all topped off with peanut butter fluff filling and frosted with peanut butter frosting. Basically, whoever concocted this recipe was genius. BOLD and genius.

And here is Liz staring lovingly at the first cake topped off with peanut butter fluff. Oh my, oh my.

So everything was going well. Everything going smoothly. Until...we topped the peanut butter fluff with the second cake layer. What can I say but...bad news bears? All of a sudden, the cake was an ooze-fest mountain. And nothing Lizzy and I did helped to keep the cake in place! Uh ohs. Basically, we gave up on this cake's aesthetically-pleasing factor, and we decided that this ugly, yet oh-so delicious cake, would not be judged by its cover.

And, oh my, what a delicious outcome it was. Sugary-overload delicious, that is. :) If we make this next time, we're definitely cutting back on the sugar in the cake, since an entire cup of mashed bananas lends plenty of sweetness to go around.

Okay, next on our baking agenda were...tomato basil mozzarella paninis! Oh my, yum...

I got a new panini grill for Christmas from my dad and step-mom...thanks, guys!!! They read my blog so, of course, they deserve a shout-out. :) And is this thing amazing. Basically, it's a souped-up George Foreman grill, but BETTER. Oh, so much better. You could cook four big, big burgers on this puppy. Or many paninis.

Wow, were these flippin' good or what. Imagine what a peanut butter banana panini would taste like...but after Coma Cake, we didn't even want to think about peanut butter at least for awhile.

Last on our baking-agenda was tiramisu a la Tyler Florence for Lizzy's fam's New Year's Eve dinner. We made this last year with much success! And here is Lizzy with the beautiful final product....yumm. What is much better than espresso-booze-drenched ladyfingers all topped with a creamy mascarpone filling? Not much, my friends, not much. Well...that Coma Cake comes pretty close. :)